Lotus returned only a few seconds later with a large carton of liquid eggs. That was a true luxury in the field, as they had to be kept refrigerated or frozen, so they weren’t sent to army units. Instead, you got powdered eggs, which were later rehydrated, and not nearly as good.
“Oh, Lotus found the good stuff. I’m sure that the government officials will miss that, but it’s going to make for a great breakfast.” Doug laughed as he started to cast nature magic to produce fresh ingredients.
Tessa brought in two large, flat rocks that were placed on a small metal table and gestured at Karl.
[Hawk, you’re up. Just a bit of Flaming Body on the stones to get the breakfast started.] Hawk rolled his eyes. He did this nearly every morning, he didn’t need instructions from Karl on how to prepare a stone to make breakfast. Having it up on a platform like that was different, though. Normally, they set it between two branches and he only heated the middle.
The tabletop was stainless steel, and Tessa knew that while it wasn’t perfect, it wouldn’t be injured by the heat from the stone. But the only folding chairs that anyone had brought were plastic, so they weren’t an option, and she didn’t feel like going to get branches for a stand or having the nature clerics grow some.
Hawk heated their griddle stone, and the clerics got to work, while the rest of the team relaxed for a few minutes. Hawk even volunteered some of his precious stash of meats, though Karl noted that they were some of the last Awakened Rank stockpile, which didn’t keep up with his nutritional needs anymore. They were a great help when he was young, but now they were essentially junk food. That was one of the drawbacks of a carnivorous beast, they needed meat to survive, and powerful monsters generally weren’t a sustainable resource.
As they moved up the ranks, finding large amounts of food for growing high rank beasts would become increasingly difficult no matter what, but keeping the meat eaters fed would be much more difficult if they were the size of Thor.
The space made up much of their needs, but not all, and they needed the intake to help their growth.
That would be a consideration for Karl in the future. If he could find omnivorous monsters, it would make his life easier. Or perhaps he could find something esoteric, like a monster that ate rocks or something. No, that could be a pain as well, as finding magical resources was even more limited than monsters.
While Karl was distracted by his thoughts, Colonel Valerie came in with the heads of the other two teams who had come to secure and study the Anomaly.
A man in a suit that looked extremely out of place in a room with cloth walls and a grass floor started the meeting. “Good morning, Team Two. It is good to see you all up and cooking so early. We have a lot to do today, but the primary goal for now is to test the difficulty of the trial, and to check the nature of its rules.
Many of these trials have an entry limit, either a number of teams at once, or on the size of the teams, or the time between entries for specific people.
Those all need to be tested and catalogued, but the first on the list is team size. The most common limits are five, ten or twenty people, however twenty – person dungeons normally have a very distinctive entrance.
So, we will start you with a ten-person team, eight of which will be Elites, and two of whom will be researchers from the agencies.”
Karl considered that for a moment. “Is it a matter of trust for the results, or a matter of specialized knowledge for the recording?” Karl asked.
“Specialized knowledge and recording equipment, I’m afraid.” The man sighed, then smoothed his freshly ironed coat in a nervous gesture.
“That’s alright, Now that I know that, we can arrange the members in a proper order to enter. If it splits the team in half, we should still be able to make two groups who can efficiently collect the data that you need.” Karl explained.
“Oh, how is that?”
Karl gestured out the door in the direction of the anomaly.
“If that thing will only allow groups of five, it should split the team after the fifth member enters, correct?
So, we will put four of our people in front, with a proper group composition and power, and then the two researchers in the middle, followed by another four Elites.
We might have to draw straws on who gets left behind, but it’s easy enough to arrange the teams for the highest likelihood that we will have a safe journey.”
The overdressed man nodded. “Oh, yes, I suppose that does work. We were going to recommend just coming back out if the team was split by the dungeon.”
Karl shrugged. “Well, that would tell us how long it would be before we could enter again, but not much else. If the wait is excessive, for example, an entire day, we would be wasting time.”
Colonel Valerie looked at the man in his expensive suit like he was an idiot who didn’t need to be here, but that really wasn’t much different from her usual glare, so Karl wasn’t certain how many of the others could really tell what was on her mind as she allowed him to continue.
“Right. So, if the teams are viable once you enter, we will ask that you gather all the data you can about locations, vegetation, resources, monster power levels and equipment, as well as the environment inside the dungeon.
The researchers with you are combat – trained professionals, but they are not Elites, so don’t expect too much of them. Other than that, can you create two teams of four that will be capable of defeating a low Commander Rank dungeon if you should get separated?”
Karl considered it, then nodded. “I think if we send the Mackenzie brothers with Morgana and a Magic Knight who can use Golems, they shouldn’t have many problems. Commander Bob Mackenzie is very close to the Royal Rank as well, and he is a defence type warrior.
The second team would be me plus Dana as our Mage, Ophelia the Dire Bear Totem Berserker, and whoever wins rock paper scissors between the remaining pair of clerics.”
Tessa and Lotus turned to glare at each other in challenge. If they were going to be one team member over the limit, there was going to be some competition for that spot.
Especially if Lotus wasn’t going to be able to slack off and ride Rae around the woods while everyone else worked.
Karl turned to Bob. “Does that work for you? I know you won’t have a Royal Rank attacker on your team, but Doug does have regenerating vines that are a pretty good crowd control spell.”
Not to mention that the vines had thorns, and he was at Royal Rank, so they would likely do as much damage as either of the spell casters.
Ruth shook her head. “None of the Knights were compatible with the Golem Spell.”
“Alright, then Dana with Bob, and I will take both clerics while the Knights have leisure time to take care of their other duties.”
Ruth nodded. “That would be appreciated. There is always paperwork to do after this sort of mission.”
Karl nodded happily, and the rest of his team tried not to laugh.
“Better you than us, Sister. We thank you for your sacrifice.” Doug informed the Magic Knight with a glowing smile, while the Knights began to realize that they’d been duped.